A Lost Buddhist Literary Tradition Is Found

In certain cliffhangers on late-night television, dashing and
strangely underdressed archaeologists in faraway places unearth
artifacts of uncertain provenance. The discoveries cast new light
on an ancient civilization.

In reality, archaeologists are less swashbuckling, but once in a
great while they do turn up objects -- ancient manuscripts,
say, inscribed in little-known languages -- that have